lay

Meanings

Verb

• To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
• To cause to subside or abate.
• To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
• To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
• To produce and deposit an egg.
• To bet (that something is or is not the case).
• To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
• To have sex with.
• To take a position; to come or go.
• To state; to allege
• To point; to aim.
• To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
• To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
• To place (new type) properly in the cases.
• To apply; to put.
• To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
• To impute; to charge; to allege.
• To present or offer.
• To lie: to rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
• Past of lie when pertaining to position.
• To be in a horizontal position; to lie (from confusion with lie).
• To don or put on (tefillin ).

Noun

• Arrangement or relationship; layout.
• A share of the profits in a business.
• A lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance.
• The direction a rope is twisted.
• A casual sexual partner.
• An act of sexual intercourse.
• A place or activity where someone spends a significant portion of their time.
• The laying of eggs.
• A layer.
• A basis or ground.
• A lake.
• A ballad or sung poem; a short poem or narrative, usually intended to be sung.
• A meadow; a lea.
• A law.
• An obligation; a vow.

Adjective

• Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.
• Non-professional; not being a member of an organized institution.
• Not trumps.
• Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.

Origin

• From Middle English leyen, leggen, from Old English leċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *laggjan, from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną ("to lay"), causative form of Proto-Germanic *ligjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-.
• Cognate with West Frisian lizze ("to lay, to lie"), Dutch leggen ("to lay"), German legen ("to lay"), Norwegian Bokmål legge ("to lay"), Norwegian Nynorsk leggja ("to lay"), Swedish lägga ("to lay"), Icelandic leggja ("to lay"), Albanian lag ("troop, band, war encampment").
• From Middle English laie, lawe, from Old English lagu ("sea, flood, water, ocean"), from Proto-West Germanic *lagu ("water, sea"), from Proto-Germanic *laguz ("water, sea"), from Proto-Indo-European *lókus ("water, body of water, lake"). Cognate with Icelandic lögur ("liquid, fluid, lake"), Latin lacus ("lake, hollow, hole").
• From Middle English lay, from Old French lai, from Latin laicus, from Ancient Greek λαϊκός. laic.
• See lie.
• From Middle English lay, from Old French lai ("song, lyric, poem"), from Frankish *laih, from Proto-Germanic *laikaz, *laikiz, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- ("to jump, spring, play"). Akin to Old High German leih ("a play, skit, melody, song"), Middle High German leich ("piece of music, epic song played on a harp"), Old English lācan ("to move quickly, fence, sing"). See lake.
• From Middle English lay, laye, laiȝe, leyȝe, from Old English lǣh, lēh, northern (Anglian) variants of Old English lēah. More at lea.
• From Middle English laige, læȝe, variants of Middle English lawe. More at law.